


Auld Acquaintance

by lawgoddess



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-27
Updated: 2018-12-27
Packaged: 2019-09-22 17:48:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,062
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17064314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lawgoddess/pseuds/lawgoddess
Summary: Merlin and Arthur meet at a Christmas party, fifteen years after a youthful fling. Can they reconnect?Both characters are fifteen at the time of their original encounter.





	Auld Acquaintance

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Guessimaclotpole](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Guessimaclotpole/gifts).



> Happy Holidays, Guessimaclotpole! I hope you enjoy this little treat for your Christmas stocking.

Arthur stopped in the entryway to admire his half- sister’s efforts. 

Morgana, always the most detail-oriented of hostesses, had really outdone herself this year. She and Leon had thrown a big Christmas bash the first weekend in December ever since they had been married, and as Arthur did the mental arithmetic, he realized with mild shock that it was a ten year tradition.

There was a chamber music quartet playing Bach in a corner, and three Christmas trees in three different rooms, each with a different theme. Black-clothed waiters slipped through the crowd offering platters of hors d'oeuvres as well as the excellent champagne Leon favored. Arthur accepted a glass and sipped at it as he crossed the room to his hostess.

Her face lit up with genuine pleasure when she caught sight of him, and he smiled back. He and Morgana were the managing partners of the business his father had left them, and while they were sometimes at loggerheads over the business and sometimes were prickly with each other, he knew that they always had each others’ backs.

He leaned in to kiss her cheek, catching her signature Givenchy scent in her hair, and admiring the way she looked in a floor length red tartan skirt and black sweater, with diamond earrings sparkling in her earlobes. “Merry Christmas, Morgana,” he greeted her. “What did you do with your husband?”

“He’s putting Iseult to bed,” she answered.

The couple’s five year old daughter was the light of Arthur’s life, and he was about to ask if he could go upstairs to say goodnight to his niece when he caught sight of a man standing near a sprig of mistletoe hanging in an archway, chatting with another guy. He looked again, thinking, “That looks like...No, it couldn’t be… It’s been twenty years.”

He kept his gaze focused on the other man, noting the slender build and the jet-black hair. He had filled out a bit since Arthur had last seen him. His shoulders were broader, and he had lost most of the adolescent awkwardness Arthur remembered.

He had a decent haircut, too.

But then the man apparently felt Arthur’s gaze on him, and looked in his direction. There were the bright blue eyes, and the cheekbones that could cut crystal. 

There was no doubt that this beautiful man was Merlin Emrys, the man Arthur had been trying to forget for two decades.

And then as Arthur watched in horror, Merlin’s eyes flicked over Arthur’s face, showing no recognition, and he turned to his companion, who Arthur could now identify as Gwaine Flanigan. Fucking Gwaine Flanigan.

Who tugged on Merlin’s shirt to pull him under the mistletoe and cupped both sides of his face to kiss him. With purpose. 

“Excuse me,” Arthur said quickly to his sister, setting his champagne glass down sharply on the nearest flat surface. He could hear her saying “Arthur, what the hell…”, but he paid her no attention as he swiftly crossed the room to the archway where Gwaine and Merlin were kissing.

They didn’t pay notice him at first, finishing up what looked like a deep and satisfying kiss. It felt like eons to Arthur, but they finally broke the kiss and stepped apart, with Merlin blushing and adjusting his collar as Gwaine turned to Arthur with a smirk.

“Well, hello there, Pendragon,” Gwaine greeted him. “Something I can help you with?”

“You seem to be doing fine,” Arthur retorted. “Although I was going to suggest that you two get a room.”

*****

Looking back, Arthur could see that the sex with Merlin in their brief high school fling hadn’t been that great. It hadn’t been that great, but it was still wonderful in every way.

They had been way too eager, and they were both virgins so they had no idea what they were doing. Arthur at least had done some deep kissing and awkward groping with a couple of girls, but Arthur was the first person to kiss Merlin. Ever. 

There had been a couple of times they had both come in their pants, making a sticky mess to walk back to class with. Arthur always smiled when he remembered the mix of humiliation and triumph he felt when that happened.

Once they had a fumble in a broom closet and had come thisclose to getting walked in on by a pair of middle-aged janitors. They barely had time to adjust their clothing before they ducked out, hanging their heads and avoiding eye contact with the outraged staff members.

Merlin had been so thin then, with his wrists as delicate as a bird’s wing and his feet too big for his body. His ears stuck out and his smile sometimes was so bright he seemed a bit demented. But the mixture of awkwardness and coltish grace had been utterly intoxicating.

There had been makeout sessions, hand jobs, and even a couple of blow jobs in various locations around the school. These encounters always held a slight thrill of danger, the fear of getting caught making them go faster and clumsier than they might have in private.

There was only one time when they actually got naked in a bed. Arthur never forgot how white and perfect Merlin’s skin was, and how it felt to drape himself over Merlin’s body, trying to melt into him.

Their physical relationship had only lasted for ten days, right before Christmas break in 2003. Arthur had gone on a skiing trip with his father for those holidays, and when he got back he learned that Merlin’s mom had taken a new job and moved herself and her son hundreds of miles away.

Arthur had no way of reaching Merlin. They had never even exchanged phone numbers, thinking that they would see each other at school anyway. And Arthur had been adamant from the start that it was just a physical thing, that he and Merlin didn’t even like each other that much.

Arthur had always had a talent for running from inconvenient emotions.

But over the intervening fifteen years, Arthur’s greatest regrets were that he never had a chance to say goodbye to Merlin. And that he hadn’t made more of an effort to find him.

*****

“Sorry, Pendragon, I didn’t realize you were such a sensitive flower,” Gwaine answered. “We’ll take our public displays of affection to another location.”

Arthur and Gwaine were staring daggers at each other, and Merlin huffed out an exasperated breath. “Gwaine, you know full well that you were just hamming it up under the mistletoe for the benefit of anyone who might be looking. We don’t have any affection to display, at least not that kind of affection. And Arthur, stop looking like you’re in a dick-measuring contest with Gwaine and say hello properly. It’s been a long time.”

Each of the other men rushed to defend himself.

“So you didn’t enjoy the kiss, then?” Gwaine said, raising an eyebrow.

And Arthur started to say, “Actually, we did get out a ruler once…”

When Merlin spoke, he sounded a bit impatient. “Yes, I enjoyed the kiss, Gwaine. You’re a very good kisser, everyone knows that. Especially since you brag about it so much. And Arthur, don’t start with that. I really don’t want to know what you two got up to in your football playing days. Now I’m going to talk to our hostess. If either one of you wants to have a pleasant conversation with me, separately, not together, I’ll be here for another hour or so.”

Arthur turned to his old friend and shrugged his shoulders. “I guess he told us.”

Gwaine spread his hands, and said, “Fair warning. I will be trying again with him. Merlin is more gorgeous than I ever dreamed possible when we were in school together.”

*****

Yes, he is impossibly gorgeous, Arthur thought as he sipped another glass of champagne. Teenaged Merlin had shown a lot of potential, but Arthur had been so interested in the excitement of his first sexual experiences, and so involved in his own adolescent dramas, that he had never thought about Merlin’s looks that much.

While he half-heartedly chatted with some of Leon and Morgana’s friends, Arthur mentally catalogued all the changes he’d seen.

Merlin had been wearing fitted black jeans and a grey cashmere sweater over a dark button-down shirt. Arthur knew enough about clothes to know how expensive they were. He remembered with a small smile how Merlin used to wear Levis so baggy that they were constantly in danger of falling off, and Fruit of the Loom 3-pack t-shirts.

Merlin’s face, and the whole way he presented himself, had changed, too. Arthur had noticed that the expertly cut hair hid his ears and made him look less gawky, and he even wore a diamond stud in one ear. Arthur couldn’t help but wonder what that stud would feel like under his tongue. Merlin’s facial features were less waif-like and more those of a very sexy grown man.

His lips were the same, though. Pink and plump, and promising various wicked delights. The faint trace of stubble along Merlin’s jawline was new, too. Merlin had barely started shaving when they’d first known each other.

The thing that struck Arthur the most, though, was the confidence in Merlin’s eyes. Young Merlin had been sexy, but in a guileless, shy way. This Merlin was no shy virgin, and he knew his worth. The challenging assessment in his gaze as he looked at Arthur showed that. 

Suddenly Arthur couldn’t stand it anymore. He excused himself from the group and crossed the room to where Merlin was standing alone, looking out a window.

Merlin didn’t turn around. Arthur cleared his throat. 

“Merlin.” 

No response.

“Merlin, I think we had something special, and we never had a chance to see where it might go. Do you think we might try again?”

Arthur held his breath as Merlin turned around to answer him. 

*****

Two coffee dates, one lunch, and three dinners, and so far Merlin hadn’t let Arthur touch him. Arthur appreciated that Merlin was being careful, and he understood why. He knew that he had been too pushy the last time around. But it was getting more difficult every day not to simply grab Merlin and climb on top of him.

But he had a feeling that it would be worth the wait, and events proved him right.

They were eating dessert at Arthur’s favorite Italian restaurant, when Merlin suddenly put his spoon down in the middle of his tiramisu and said simply, “Let’s get out of here.”

“Where are we going?” Arthur answered, confused.

“My place. It’s closer.”

Arthur didn’t have to be asked twice.

*****

Arthur arrived a little late to Morgana and Leon’s Christmas party. His stop at a jewelry store for a gift for his fiance had taken a little longer than he planned, and as he entered the room he scanned it for the person who was most important to him.

He was interrupted in his search by Iseult saying excitedly, “Uncle Arthur, Uncle Arthur, over here!”

This year her parents had decided she was old enough to stay up and greet some of the guests, and she was standing between Leon and Morgana, looking like a Christmas angel in her satiny white dress, red ribbons in her dark hair.

He went over to give her a kiss, and she demanded, “You promised you would dance with me tonight, Uncle Arthur.”

“And so I will, sweet girl. But first I need to say hello to your Uncle Merlin.”

Morgana gave him her half-indulgent, half- sardonic smile over her daughter’s head, and said, “Go on, then. He’s over there.” She nodded in the direction of the biggest tree, right by the mistletoe.

Merlin kept a straight face as Arthur crossed the room toward him, but he had a sparkle in his eyes.

“Hanging around the mistletoe hoping to be kissed?” Arthur teased.

“Please. I’ve already had to turn away six offers.”

“Are you going to take this one?”

“I believe I am.”

They leaned in and lightly brushed their lips together, before moving into a deep, passionate embrace. The room melted away for both of them as they deepened the kiss, and they were so thoroughly lost in each other that they didn’t even hear the catcalls and shouts of “Get a room!”


End file.
